“We will be nearby until you depart,” one of the officials assured her.
As Alain and Mari walked away, Alain heard argument break out again, at least a couple of the officials terrified of what might happen to the city if its cooperation with the daughter was discovered or even suspected by the Great Guilds.
“It’s almost a relief to have some of them disagree with me,” Mari said to Alain. “I’m beginning to worry that I might start liking being surrounded by people who will agree to anything I say.”
“I do not think that will ever be a problem,” Alain assured her. “The more people are in awe of you, the less you like it.”
Mari choked out a brief laugh. “I’ve always been a little resistant to being told who to be and what to do. I guess being seen as…her… feels like people trying to make me into something else. So if I ever start to act too high and mighty, just start worshiping me and I’ll start being humble just to spite you.”
“But I already worship you,” Alain protested.
That earned him a full laugh.
Mari dove into the work of making decisions needed to loot the Guild Hall. Alain stood by, watching for signs of deception in those Mari spoke with. Mechanics Alli and Calu also stood ready to assist. Mechanic Ken came up with information and left with more instructions, while the older Mechanics like Lukas and S’san gave advice that Mari listened to intently. Open-bed wagons rolled up to the Guild Hall and large Mechanic devices were hoisted onto them. Every once in a while several loaded wagons would head for the docks, accompanied by Mechanics who appeared gleeful to be pillaging their Guild Hall.
Alain was not certain how much time had passed when he felt the presence of a now-familiar Mage and looked to the north. A black dot was visible in the sky and growing rapidly larger. “Mage Alera returns.”
Mari stared as the Roc glided low above the plaza and came to a running halt nearby.
“A smoke-snake comes,” Mage Alera said even before dismounting from the Roc. She slid off the bird’s neck and inclined her head toward Mari. “Elder, the smoke snake is on the shining lines entering the far side of the hills beyond this city.”
“Kasi!” Master Mechanic Lukas called to another Mechanic who was not yet wearing one of Mari’s armbands. “Did you get any notice of a special coming in today?”
Mechanic Kasi ran up to Lukas. “No. A special? Why would the Guild have sent a special train?”
“They got warned that we might hit Edinton,” Mari explained. “The train is just entering the hills north of here. How much time do we have?”
“From there, if they come in at the best speed they can manage on those stretches, maybe two hours.”
“That’s not nearly enough,” Lukas said. “We’d have to abandon almost everything.”
“Is there a place where we could blow the track?” Alli demanded. “Some spot where it would really slow them down?”
Mechanic Kasi nodded. “Where the trestle crosses the river north of town, on the near side of those hills. That’s the only good spot between here and there. Blow the trestle and they’ll have to climb down, cross the river, climb up, and walk along the track to get here. That’d take several hours at least. But you can’t do it. There is no way to get to that trestle before the train does.”
“Horses at full gallop—” Calu began.
“Not even close,” Kasi said. “The train is too near and that trestle is too far. Nothing could get you there fast enough.”
Everyone had forgotten Mage Alera, but now she spoke as dispassionately as ever. “If a Mechanic can do a spell at this place, my Roc and I can take the Mechanic there.”
“Fly?” Alli said, then broke into a broad smile. “Yes! She can fly me to the trestle, I can blow it, and we’ll be fine.”
Calu waved both hands at Alli. “Whoa. Wait. We have to think about this.”
“Why?” Alli asked. “I’m going to fly on the back of an imaginary bird to plant an explosive charge in front of a train loaded with heavily armed, hostile Mechanics. What could possibly go wrong?”
“Then I need to go, too,” Calu insisted.
Mage Alera shook her head once. “The spell forming my Roc grows old and fades. He cannot carry three to the river and back.”
“Alli…” Mari stared at her helplessly.
“The suggestion of Mage Alera and Mechanic Alli is a good one,” Alain said, knowing that Mari did not want to hear that but needed to regardless.
“Do I get a say in this?” Mechanic Calu asked, his eyes on Alli.
She stepped close to him and whispered, then kissed him. “It’ll be all right,” Alli added as she stepped back. “How much can I carry, Mage Alera?”
Alera looked at her Roc. “He grows weak. Carry as little as needed.”
Alli tossed her rifle to Calu. “I’ve already got the fuse I require, but I need several blocks of standard explosive compound C. Who can get it for me really fast?”
Mechanic Kasi and Mechanic Ken ran off. Alli pulled a small packet from a pocket of her Mechanics jacket, placed it carefully in one pocket of her pants, then peeled off her jacket before kicking off her boots.
“Do you want my pistol?” Mari asked.
“I’m good,” Alli said. “I just need those boom blocks.”
Alain saw the look on Mechanic Calu’s face and felt the need to say something. “I am sorry,” he said to Calu.
“Don’t be,” Calu said. “This was Alli’s idea, and it is a good idea. I just wish it wasn’t Alli doing it. But she’s right. I shouldn’t stop her from doing what she’s best at. You and I really made some choices in women, huh? Never a dull moment.”
“I do not think I have experienced a dull moment since meeting Mari,” Alain agreed.
Mechanics Kasi and Ken came running back with what looked to Alain like several bricks, though the material seemed softer. Alli pulled her shirt out of her pants and wrapped the blocks into the front, then nodded to Alera. “Tell me what to do, Lady Mage.”
Alera helped a visibly nervous Alli onto the back of the Roc, the bird eyeing her with the vast orb of his right eye. As soon as Alli was settled, Mage Alera climbed on in front of her, leaning over to whisper into the ear of her Roc.
The bird shuffled about, then ran across the plaza, hopping into the air just in time to clear the crowds and the buildings around its margin.
Mari stared after it, blinking hard. “Alain, what else should we do?”
“Even if—” Alain saw the effect of his first two words on Calu and quickly changed them. “After Mechanic Alli succeeds, the Mechanics from your Guild will still come on, though they will need more time. You will need armed Mechanics to slow them further. It is called a rear guard.”
“I’ll—” Mari started.
“No!” came simultaneously from Professor S’san, Master Mechanic Lukas, Mechanic Calu, and Alain.
“I’ll take command of this,” Calu said. “You stay back for once, Mari. How many Mechanics do you think we need, Alain?”
“It has to be enough to slow the attackers, but not so many that the rear guard is slow to retreat and cannot escape,” Alain said.
“Twenty?” Calu suggested.
“I’ll ask for volunteers,” Mechanic Kasi said. “They’ll all have rifles?”
“Yes,” Calu said. “We’ll take up positions near the railyard and see how long we can hold them up.”
Master Mechanic Lukas held out a blocky Mechanic device. “You’ll need a far-talker. This is Guild junk, but it’s all we’ve got.”
“The attackers can listen in on those,” Mari objected.
“We’ll use a code like when we were Apprentices,” Calu said. “Let’s go, Kasi. I’ll be real happy to have something to do to take my mind off of other things.”
“I should—” Alain started to say.
“Uh-uh,” Mari said. “If I have to be smart, so do you. Stay with me. No matter what anyone says, I will not leave for the ships before we’ve gotten everyone el
Alain had thought the activity around the Guild Hall had been moving quickly before. But now it sped up, everyone working at a frantic pace. The Mages could do little except occasionally make part of a wall vanish to ease the removal of large Mechanic items.
He felt the return of Alera and called. “Mari!”
She turned with a growing smile of relief as Mari saw that Alain was pointing to the north.
The Roc glided in very low, barely clearing the buildings about the plaza, and came to a long, stumbling landing that ended near the Guild Hall.
Alli as much fell as dismounted from the Roc, followed by Mage Alera. While Alli staggered up to Mari, Alera knelt next to the lowered head of her Roc. She placed both arms on the Roc’s neck, embracing it as the Roc rubbed her with his head.
The power put into the spell completely used up, the Roc disintegrated into a shower of dust that itself vanished before reaching the ground. Alera was left kneeling on the empty pavement.
Alain saw Mari wiping away a tear as she spoke to Alli. “How did it go?”
“No problem,” Alli said, sitting down heavily on the nearest step. “My legs are a little wobbly. You would not believe— That’s for later. The important thing is that when we landed on this side of the trestle we could see the smoke from the approaching train. Mage Alera put us down right on the edge, so all I had to do was get down, run onto the trestle, find the best spot, plant my charge, set the fuse, and run back.”
Alli inhaled deeply. “Which I did. The train was coming into sight when the charge blew and knocked half the trestle into the river.”
“Were we right?” Mari asked. “Was the Guild sending someone on that train to reinforce Edinton’s Guild Hall?”
“Judging from the number of rifles that fired at us as Mage Alera and I flew off, I’d say the answer is surely yes. We had a lot of bullets chasing us before that bird got us clear.” Alli looked around. “What happened to the bird?”
“It has gone,” Alain said. He walked to Mage Alera, hearing Alli asking another question of Mari.
“Where’s Calu?”
“Commanding the rear guard,” Mari said.
“He’s—” Alli threw up her hands. “Isn’t that like a man? You risk your life, so he figures he has to risk his life. What is the matter with men?”
Alain offered his hand to Mage Alera. “Let me help you stand.”
She looked up at him, impassive and tragic at the same time. “Help?”
“As you helped Mechanic Alli do what she must.” Alain got Mage Alera to her feet, not surprised to discover that she was completely worn out, having put what strength she could into keeping her Roc going as long as possible. He put a spare armband on her sleeve. “Do you see the Mages over there? You can rest among them. We will leave this city tonight on ships.”
“Is it worth it, Mage Alain? Is…helping…the daughter a path of wisdom?”
“It is,” he said. “May you soon ride Swift again.”
Alera looked at Alain. “You remembered his name. But he is even less than a shadow.”
“Not to one who believes in him.”
* * * *
It was very late in the afternoon when Alain heard the rattle of Mechanic weaponry firing in another part of the city.
Professor S’san listened on a looted far-talker, then nodded to Mari. “Mechanic Calu says the Mechanics he is facing are professional fighters. He is not trying to defend any spot, but is only having his Mechanics take stands long enough to cause the attackers to have to stop and advance cautiously afterwards.”
“Alli will kill me if Calu is hurt,” Mari said. “Where is Alli?”
“With Calu,” Alain said. “She told me to tell you.”
Shaking her head, Mari yelled at those still working. “Drop anything we haven’t already loaded! Get the loads down to the dock and get yourselves and your loads onto the ship. Master Mechanic Lukas, inform Captain Banda that he needs to get all of our ships away from the dock as soon as possible, and have all of our boats waiting to take the rear guard and others to the ships.”
She paused. “Come on, Alain.”
Alain followed as Mari ran into the Guild Hall, moving through the hallways with the ease of someone familiar with the building. Reaching the Senior Mechanic conference room, Mari waved to the Mechanics guarding the door. “Get down to the docks.”
Entering, Alain saw most of the captive Senior Mechanics sitting against the far wall, looking subdued and dazed. “They’ve been kind of nervous around me for some reason,” Bev explained. “What the blazes is going on?”
“Mechanic attack force entering the city,” Mari murmured to her. “You and the other two in here get out, lock and bar the doors to this room, and head for the docks.”
“Got it. You’ve got something in your hair,” Bev pointed out. “Right there.”
Mari shuddered as she pulled out another fragment of dragon. “Don’t waste any time. I’m going to make certain no one else is left in the Hall.”
Alain followed again as Mari ran, stopping by numerous rooms to look inside and racing off again. She stopped to order the Mechanics guarding the Guild loyalists in the dining hall to seal the doors and then run for safety.
The far-talker Mari still carried began making noise. She listened, then shook her head. “Calu is falling back really quickly. He says if he doesn’t, the other guys will cut off the rear guard.”
They burst out of the front entry, Alain seeing that the sun had fallen so low that its rays were grazing the rooftops of Edinton. At the bottom of the stairs, Mechanic Bev waited along with several other armed Mechanics. “I didn’t get to go up against the dragon,” she said, “so I’m staying for this fight.”
In the midst of the erratic crashes of the Mechanic weapons, much louder now as the fight neared the Guild Hall, Alain heard a deeper boom.
“Alli must have set a bomb to slow them down,” Mari said. She ran, breathing heavily, to where the Edinton officials still waited. “Get out of here. Get all of the commons who aren’t already at home into shelter. If those Mechanic assassins see you they might kill you out of sheer meanness.”
“We’ll see you again, daughter!” one called as the officials took to their heels.
“Everyone else is heading for the docks,” Professor S’san said.
“Why are you still here?” Mari demanded. “Go!”
S’san hesitated, then nodded, joining the tail end of the fleeing procession.
Alain saw a patch of darkness appear on one side of the plaza, then moments later saw Mechanics wearing Mari’s armbands running toward them. “The attack comes,” he said.
Bev and the others knelt to aim their weapons, Mari standing beside Alain and counting as more Mechanics ran into the plaza, heading for the shelter offered by the Guild Hall. “Where are Alli and Calu?” she whispered.
A small group of Mechanics burst out of a street, pausing to fire a volley behind them, then bolted for all they were worth across the plaza.
Before the last of Mari’s rear guard had reached the Guild Hall’s walls, while they were still in the open, a larger group of Mechanics appeared and swung their weapons up to fire, ignoring the long-range shots of Bev and the rest of Mari’s Mechanics.
Chapter Twelve
Alain had been gathering strength to himself, preparing his spell, and now he placed the strongest heat he could on the pavement in front of the attacking Mechanics. The stones of the pavement shattered into fragments and dust, creating a boom that rivaled the sound of Mechanic Alli’s bombs.
The attackers reeled back, seeking cover.
More Mechanics appeared to the right of them.
Alain placed another ball of heat in front of that group.
The sun sank below the buildings, putting the plaza into shadow.
The first group of attackers was firing on the rear guard from the shelter of some of the buildings.
Alain, feeling his strength draining rapidly, put a third globe of heat just inside the window of the largest structure the attackers were using as cover, causing the nearest windows to blow out.
He took a faltering step, nearly falling, but Mari caught him. “This day must have taken more from me than I realized,” Alain told her, startled that his strength had given out so quickly.
The rear guard was reaching them now, racing past Bev and her force as Bev waved them onward. “We’ll form a line at the buildings,” one Mechanic yelled as he went by, his face streaked with smoke, sweat, and blood.
“Mari, you and Alain ought to get out of here, too,” Bev urged, pausing in her firing across the plaza.
“Not until the rest are clear,” Mari insisted.
“Then send Alain ahead! From the looks of him he can’t run very far!”
Mari gave Alain an anguished look, then focused on Bev again. “Make sure Alli and Calu make it past before you fall back.”
“You got it.”
Alain, angry at being so weakened, did his best to move quickly as Mari helped him toward the line of buildings ahead. “Like Marandur all over again,” Mari gasped. “Or Altis. Why do we keep ending up like this?”
Just ahead of them, one of the rear guard stumbled and fell forward, blood appearing on her back where a bullet had hit. But two other Mechanics grabbed her, one on each side, and carried her on. “Get her to the boats!” Mari ordered.
Alain looked back as they reached the shelter of a building, able to stand on his own once more. About a dozen members of the rear guard and Bev’s force were intermingled in the plaza. He saw Mechanic Alli stop, turn, aim carefully, and fire. Moments later, one of the attackers came to a sudden halt and fell as her bullet struck.
Spurts of dust and fragments were flying from the buildings around them, marking hits by the attackers’ bullets.
“Keep going! Keep going!” Calu was yelling. He jerked from a bullet hitting one arm, but kept on his feet.
Unable to see any targets worth using another fire spell, Alain could only fall back again with the others.
Alli stopped nearby, reloading her rifle. “Alain, the only thing that will keep Mari from insisting on being the last out will be if you keep her moving. Don’t you be a hero or she’ll do the same.”
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